CIO.com blogger Martha Heller shares her tips for creating a resume that will get you noticed by potential employers.

Current Job Listings

Sean Burns’ resume didn’t feature any glaring flaws, just the common mistakes most of us make when writing a resume. Resume expert, Andrew Ysasi, president of Admovio and executive director of Kent Record Management, says Burns’ resume was too technical, scattered and failed to shed any light on his extensive experience in information security.

“His resume would not have performed well with common search queries for information security jobs, and if found, it was unlikely his resume would have performed well against other candidates’ due to lack of cohesion,” says Ysasi.

Burns agreed that his resume “lacked focus” and a “consistent theme,” noting that he found it challenging to figure out “what career details to highlight and which to eliminate.” Despite years of experience in information security, Burns’ resume didn’t appeal to the jobs he was interested in applying to.

Your resume’s first impression

Your resume needs a strong summary to introduce yourself as a potential candidate. This is where you can highlight your most recent and impressive accomplishments to set the tone for the rest of your resume.